Will Brady Quinn get a chance to play for the Browns?

The Browns don’t know what to think about Derek Anderson. They picked Brady Quinn, not Anderson, to be their Matt Schaub.

Steve Doerschuk

The Texans think they have their horse.

You know that from these phrases that came off coach Gary Kubiak’s lips as he prepared to throw Matt Schaub at the Browns:

“Here for the long haul ... a winner ... great for our organization ... a leader ... loves to play ... a gym rat.’’

The Browns don’t know what to think about Derek Anderson. They picked Brady Quinn, not Anderson, to be their Matt Schaub.

“We need him to get better,’’ says Romeo Crennel, who always applies a proceed-with-caution approach to his Anderson talk. The body language says loud and clear the Browns know they have a property in Anderson.

But they’re unlikely to keep Anderson and Quinn beyond 2008, if that long. The buzz around Anderson isn’t as big as it was during a six-game stretch within which he had ratings of 121.0, 109.5, 142.5 and 143.0.

Anderson’s ratings in his last three games have been 75.3, 83.4 and 73.8.

A monster game against Schaub today would defy the theory the league has caught up with him. A 70-something today against Schaub would sharpen the focus on getting some playing time for Quinn.

The Browns have two choices to seeing what Quinn can do: Wait for a blowout game or force the rookie in.

Here are 10 reasons why Quinn hasn’t played so far.

- Game 1. The Browns needed to see what Anderson could do after he relieved Charlie Frye in the second quarter, trailing 17-0.

- Game 2. Anderson was smoking in a shootout win against Carson Palmer.

- Game 3. Anderson was off but the game was close and it was hard to bench a guy who had just won a 51-45 game.

- Game 4. The Ravens stayed close enough to keep the first-stringers in.

- Game 5. At New England, the Browns pulled to within 27-17 with six minutes left.

- Game 6. This would have been the perfect chance, but the Browns blew a 27-3 lead on Miami before rallying.

- Game 7. At St. Louis, a 27-20 lead had to be nursed through most of the fourth quarter.

- Game 8. A 33-30 OT win over Seattle was no time to experiment.

- Game 9. The odd concept of garbage-time play for Quinn at Pittsburgh seemed plausible, but a 21-6 lead got away.

- Game 10. This time a 27-14 lead -- and Quinn’s chance to play -- faded into another 33-30 overtime game.

Ironically, Quinn’s chance to play today is tied to the man ahead of him lighting it up.

The Texans have lost 37-17 at Jacksonville and 35-10 at San Diego.
Anderson usually plays well at home. This could be a two-horse day for Cleveland.